Black Bream Ceviche & Fish Skin Crackling

There has been great viewing over the past few weeks on the BBC at 15:45, hour long programs ‘A Taste of Britain’ hosted by foodie Janet Street-Porter and chef Brian Turner exploring food specialities from around Britain. There have been two from Dorset and the latest from Somerset starring Brett Sutton from The White Post, Rimpton cooking a wonderful lamb dish with Black Garlic from Dorset’s South West Garlic Farm.

With friends coming round Saturday night for meal, I thought that Taher’s recipe would make a great starter. September is a great month to catch Black Bream and I know a little spot along the Dorset coastline where I can catch them on very light tackle, which luckily I did. I even had enough for our main course, which I cooked whole in my wood fired oven!!

Our guests are not great lovers of Wasabi, so I missed that from his recipe and added a few thinly sliced radish instead. Taher also served his with a fresh mayonnaise made with milk, oil & fresh Wasabi. But I just garnished mine with sweet red onion & radish pickle. The dish was singingly fresh with amazing flavours and was the perfect starter. Don’t be put off thinking ‘raw fish’, the lime juice really does cook the fish, but leaves it amazingly tender.

Fillet and debone the bream – then carefully remove the skin with a good knife

Fish Skin Crackling: Place the skin on a seasoned well oiled baking tray, then season & oil the top of the skin. Place another baking tray on top (this is to stop the skin from curling) and bake in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes.

In a bowl add finely chopped red onion, coriander leaves, small dash of fresh red chilli. You can also add a dash of fresh Wasabi if you like, I added a couple of finely chopped radishes.

Add the chopped bream and juice from one lime (or to taste)

Season well and let marinade for 15 minutes.

Serve with a piece of fish skin crackling, a chilled glass of Muscadet and enjoy – we did!!!